Buy the world's largest video game collection

Michael Thommason in front of a tiny fraction of his record-holding collection

The owner of the world's largest video game collection is auctioning it all away to help his family in their time of need.

New York resident Michael Thomasson was awarded the Guinness World Record for his cornucopia of retro classics in December 2012, clocking up 10,607 games. Since then, Thomasson says that he's added around 400 new ones since, bringing the total up to more than 11,000 games. At the time of writing, the highest bid sits at $50,000 (£30,000), still short of the reserve price set for the haul.

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For the right price, the discerning collector can walk away with more than 2,600 factory-sealed mint-condition games and a further 5,700 boxed with manual. As if that's not enough, Thomasson is throwing in a lifetime subscription to RETRO magazine and the crown itself, his Guinness World Record. "Win this auction and you will have the largest recorded collection of games in the world -- or Universe, even," Thomasson says in the listing. "I'm handing over the baton and the winner will instantly become the new crown holder, without three plus decades of meticulous hunting."

Thomasson has amassed this treasure trove of gaming history from his many years working in independent games shops throughout the 90s -- seven in fact. From his lofty positions as manager of many of the stores, he would pick out the most pristine copies from every distributor's shipment and put it aside for himself. As a result, he has complete US sets for 21 consoles, ranging from the Atari 5200 to the Nintendo Virtual Boy and the Sega Dreamcast, as well as mostly complete sets of every other console that has ever been produced before the current generation.

The decision to part with the collection must have been a difficult one for Thomasson, who has been in the games industry for more then 25 years -- and will continue to do so. But as he stated in the listing on his auction: "I simply have an immediate family and extended family that have needs that need to be addressed. While I do not wish to part with these games, I have responsibilities that I have made to others and this action is how I will help meet them. No worries, I've sold my collection many times in the past and still managed to capture Guinness' attention, and it is entirely possible that I may again."

Those other times in the past when Thomasson has had to sell part of his collection have included his wedding, in 1998, where he sold many games he's not been able to reacquire since. So if anything, it's good to see he's got some well-placed priorities.